Training was not easy. I knew that I wasn't physically injured and Courtney had also healed from her own injuries. The problem was that I felt really guilty. Courtney had gotten injured because of me and I hated it. On top of that, I wasn't able to stop the other archer. I was relieved that it wasn't Malcolm, but not knowing made things even harder. I knew Malcolm's style of fighting, but this was a different person and he was a bit of a wildcard. On top of that, I had no idea how to find him. As I was doing it, my head couldn't help but be filled with Courtney either unconscious or in the hospital. I actually fell off the salmon ladder. It was a good thing that I could heal because it really hurt. I tried shooting a tennis ball and missed. That was when Iris walked up to me.
"How's it going?" She asked. "How's Courtney?"
"She's fine." I stated. The nice thing about winter break was that she didn't have to miss very much school. She was lucky that her injuries were relatively minor. I wasn't sure that I wanted her to train with me but I did look forward to being able to do other things with her.
"Well do you have any idea who this other archer is?" She questioned.
"I have no idea. The person that I thought it was has been cleared." I declared. You know I didn't think that it could possibly be Walter, but I was pretty sure that it wasn't Walter. He just didn't seem like the type of person to do something like that. I could look into it, but I was pretty sure that it wasn't him. I was back to square one with my guesses.
"Have you considered that maybe it's Detective Lance?" Iris responded. That was definitely something that I hadn't considered. "Think about it. He hates you and he might want to frame you. He could be going after people you've already visited because he doesn't have a copy of the list."
"I don't think it's him." I replied. I supposed the motive would make sense and it was probably a better theory than anyone that I could have suspected, but one I didn't think he was a skilled enough archer to do something like that and two it didn't sound like something that Quentin would do. "I will keep that in mind though."
"So, I can't believe that you'd been out of this for six weeks." She commented. "Has this guy really messed you up that badly or are you doing it because you're waiting for Courtney to get better? I bet you could cross a few names off of your list. It doesn't seem like it would be too hard."
"I don't know if I know I want to go after the list." I remarked. I was getting to the point where I didn't do very much with it anymore. "I'm afraid that I visit any of these people, the other archer will also pay them a visit."
"Okay I get that." She admitted. "So, what are you going to do then?"
That was a good question. What was I going to do? I knew I wasn't going to stop, but I didn't know where I was supposed to go with this. I didn't know if the other archer would reappear. I knew I would have to think of a way to stop him. I hoped it would be a few months because I wanted to make sure that I was ready for him.
The following day I headed back to school. I wasn't used to breaks and I was pretty sure that I was starting to think like a teenager because I didn't really want to go back. I actually came across Linda in the courtyard and decided that I would try to talk to her.
"Hey." I greeted her.
"Hi. So how is Courtney?" She asked.
"She's doing better." I explained. She was supposed to be coming back today but I hadn't seen her yet. "So I realize that we've never really talked one-on-one before. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"
"Sure." She agreed. "Ask away."
"Well how long have you and Thea been together?" I asked.
"Six months." She answered.
"So this is something that has been eating me a little since the party. Have you two had sex before? It's just that I would really bad if I messed up your first time." I declared. "I don't need the details, I just want a yes or no."
"You didn't wreck our first time." She assured me. "Honestly, I think the moment after our first time was more memorable to me than the actual sex."
"Why is that?" I questioned.
"It's because afterwards your mom called her. She called her to tell her that they found you. She looked so happy." Linda explained. "That was the moment that I knew that I was love in her."
At that point, I headed into the school because I felt like I should get something to eat. Another thing I found out was that I needed to eat extra after I actually healed from something.
That night I was at home. I was pretty sure that I preferred things with Malcolm not being kidnapped. I did realize that even though Malcolm wasn't the other archer, it still didn't guarantee that he wasn't guilty of something. I actually didn't have a lot to say because they were happy. My family was still together and I was happy about it. I just knew that things would be much different than I had experienced. I just didn't know what to expect.
So, I was basically with Thea. We were in our pajamas because we were going to be watching some movies together.
"I've seen that one before." She stated.
"Yeah, I'm assuming that you've seen most of these movies, but I haven't." I pointed out.
"It's nice to be doing this with just the two of us." She commented. "We have to do things without our girlfriends every now and then."
"Courtney isn't my girlfriend." I argued.
"All that time you spent in her hospital room makes me think otherwise." She argued.
"I was concerned." I replied with a blush. "I can be concerned about someone that I'm not dating."
"Sounds more like denial to me." Thea stated. "It's okay for you to like someone."
I knew that she didn't understand. No one really understood. It wasn't like I could tell them that I was not only from another universe but I was also really a married man with a daughter. I wished that there was someone that I could talk to about it. I just knew that I wouldn't be able to fall for someone else. I didn't want to fall for someone else.
It was then that I noticed that the news was talking about me. They seemed to be wondering where the vigilante had disappeared to.
"So where do you think she went?" Thea asked.
"I don't know." I lied. I wanted to go back, but I wasn't sure where to start.
At that point, Tommy walked inside.
"Hey, we're having a movie night. Do you wanna join us?" I asked.
"I was actually looking for my dad." He answered. "Is he here right now?"
"No, he and Mom went out for dinner. What's going on?" I replied.
"I was talking to Dinah and Joanna. Joanna said that she thought that her brother was murdered. I know Dad knows some good private investigators." He explained. Oh. Well now I knew what I was going to do. You know I couldn't remember how I had found out about this initially. It was hard for me to remember every detail of every incident from something that happened almost seven years ago.
"Maybe it would be best to leave something like that to the police." Thea opined. They wouldn't be able to do anything.
Another thing was I was sure that I was not going to let Courtney be involved with this. I was going to let her literally go into the fire. She was currently hanging out with me at the club as I prepared to go downstairs. I wondered if I should hold the benefit here, but I would rather have my club be damaged than somewhere like Dinah's restaurant.
"So are you just going to stop doing this?" She asked me.
"No, I have something." I explained. "It's not related to the list or the other archer. It involves some firefighters that died on duty. Dinah seems to think that they were murdered."
"So what are we going to do?" She replied.
"We're going to do some research to see what we can come up with." I explained. "I also have a lot of work to do."
I knew that Tommy had a successful career but I did miss having him as my GM. It meant that I had to do all of the hard stuff myself. I supposed the nice thing about having the club be potentially damaged was that I could wait a little while to start hiring people. I should probably at least go for interviews. I hadn't considered but I kind of needed a certain type of person working for me. Security could probably be older, but it would probably be best to stick to younger people as servers and bartenders. Also since we weren't going to be serving alcohol, I didn't need anyone with a license.
"I also want to try to help on another front. I'm going to be opening this place soon. I was thinking that maybe I could have a benefit for the fire department and the families of those who were killed here." I told her.
"What can I do to help?" She asked.
"Have you ever waited tables before?" I retorted.
"I'm serious. I meant about the person who's killing the firefighters." She replied as she came closer to me.
"I'm serious too. I need to start hiring people and it would be a great excuse for why we're hanging out so much." I countered.
"Okay, fine, I'll work here but we need to catch this guy." She pointed out.
I went home and found that Mom and Malcolm were talking to someone about the company,
"So how are you this afternoon?" Malcolm greeted them.
"Mr. Merlyn, why are we here?" One of the men asked. I was pretty much wondering that myself. There probably wasn't any need for them to be there.
"I was just inviting you here to check in and make sure that everything is going okay." Malcolm replied. "After all we all want what is best for the company."
I didn't understand the purpose of this. Malcolm wasn't missing, nor was anyone else to my knowledge. Maybe that was just how Malcolm liked to run the business or something. I also wasn't sure if that was someone from our company or from his. I was pretty sure that after the merger, we were probably towards Zuckerberg amounts of money and I didn't think that we would be at any risk of losing it. I also made sure that my family kept the money in the redesigned universe because I wouldn't sign over ownership to Isabel.
"What was that about?" I asked.
"It's nothing to worry about." Malcolm assured me. "It was just business. Speaking of business, how is yours coming along?"
"I mean we're not ready to open yet, but we're getting close. I was actually thinking about hosting a benefit for the fire department there, but I would need your help with someone." I explained.
"What do you need help with?" He questioned.
"Well since it's going to be a private event, I won't need a liquor license to serve alcohol, but I will need the alcohol and I can't exactly buy it myself." I stated.
"I'll take care of it." Malcolm explained.
"Miss Queen, we have a situation." Iris interrupted. She took me to the car. "So one thing that all of the fires had in common was there was the same pick-up truck at all of them."
"Do you know who it belongs to?" I asked.
"No. The license plate doesn't bring up a match" She told me. "But what I do know is Stagg Chemical was just lit up and it seems the same truck is there. I have your gear in the car."
"Okay." I replied. I would have to try to do this. I hoped that I would be able to save everyone's lives. I didn't think that this would affect me in the same way, but I was still feeling guilty. I didn't know why because I had been through worse. I couldn't help but wonder if it was because of my age. I always heard that teenagers were more emotional, but I never thought that it might be true.
I headed to the chemical plant. I tried to think of the name of the culprit but I was drawing a blank. I would have to refresh my memory on everything. At the moment, it wasn't important what his name was as much as saving the firefighters was. I was pretty sure that I was fireproof, but I probably didn't want to be burned to find out. I got there right as the man arrived and dropped one of the firefighters into the fire. His covering made it so my arrows wouldn't be much use. I tried to fight him but I had flashbacks of what had happened and he managed to get the upper hand on me. I did notice the firefly tattoo that I knew was already there. I felt terrible. It had been a while since I had experienced total failure. Even with the other archer, I still managed to rescue the hostages. Here, not only had he gotten away, but I also failed to save anyone.
Iris then took me back to the club. I still couldn't believe that I had failed. I didn't want to believe it. I knew that I would need to continue to go on but it was just hard living with that. I probably should have been used to it because it was not the only time, but it was not any easier. I felt like I would need a pep talk. It would probably have to be one hell of a pep talk because I was feeling pretty lousy.
"Are you okay?" Iris asked me.
"Not really." I admitted.
"So what are you going to do about it?" She challenged.
"I don't know." I admitted.
"Olivia, you have to realize that sometimes you are going to fail." She pointed out. "That was something that they taught in the academy. They told us not to let failure eat us up. I know it sucks, but you can't let something like this hold you back. You have to keep going."
"Well what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to live with the fact that someone died because I wasn't able to protect him?" I questioned.
"You do it by getting them justice. You're never going to be able to save everyone." She stated. "You just have to do what you can. Tell me did you at least see the killer?"
"Yes." I answered.
"Well you must know something about him." She told me.
"I noticed that his hand was severely burned and he had a firefly tattoo." I remarked.
"Well then we're going to have to find out what that means." She replied. "Also, you're going to need Courtney's help with this. I know you don't want her to ger hurt again, but you have to trust her."
"How did you become so good at this?" I asked with a smile.
"At what?" She retorted.
"At making me feel better?" I responded. "Let's get going."
"Just know that this other archer will never be you. He'll never have your spirit and your drive. And he'll never have your heart. I know that you'll be able to stop him. You were just caught by surprise." She assured me.
The following day, I headed to the fire station. I had to get a guest list for everyone that was going to be attending the benefit. I was hoping that no one would get hurt. I wanted to believe that I could stop this. I had done it before. It seemed like I had already changed a lot of things for the better, but I had to make sure that nothing changed for the worse. That was another fear of mine. I was afraid of doing things differently, but doing them in a way that made things worse.
When I got there, I couldn't help but notice a familiar face. I remembered that she had come there.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" I greeted her.
"I told Joanna that I would clean out Danny's locker." She answered. I was a little surprised that she and Joanna were still so close but I was also glad. Unfortunately, that closeness may have been coming to an end, because I was pretty sure that she had never come to Star City. Maybe that was something that I could change. I didn't know how I could change, but Dinah deserved to keep her best friend. "Why are you here?"
"I needed to double-check the guest list for the firemen's gala." I explained. I noticed an amused look on her face. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"It's just you're not someone that I expected this sort of work ethic from. I also hear that you're doing very well in school as well." She stated.
"Well I'm not the same person that I was five years ago." I declared. "So I wanted to know how things are going between and Tommy. Has he asked you to move in with him?"
"I don't think that we're there yet." She replied.
"That doesn't answer the question." I pointed out. I knew that I was acting a little bit like an annoying younger sibling, but I wanted Tommy to be happy.
"Yes, he did ask me to move in with him and I told him that I would think about it." She said. I knew that when a girl said that it usually meant no, but it was a way of saying no without actually saying no. The other thing was thinking of an excuse to avoid answering the question. I had to do that because people at school were finally willing to talk to me…which led to me being asked out by a few boys.
"Well what about you? Do you have your eye on any boys?" She asked as I blushed.
"I need to get going." I told her. I started to walk away before I headed back inside.
"Did you forget something, Miss Queen?" The chief asked me.
"I was just checking to see if my friend needed any help." I declared. I did like that despite not being a lawyer, that Dinah still had that same passion for helping others. I didn't know if she would ending becoming a hero here, but I hoped that she would manage to have a long life. "So what was the Nodell Tower?"
"How do you not remember that?" The chief asked me.
"In case you've forgotten I wasn't the best at keeping track of the events of the last five years." I reminded him.
"It was 22 stories of glass and steel, but it turned that the construction company who built used substandard materials to save themselves some money." He explained. "It was nowhere near structural code."
"The gas line blew. There was a fire." Dinah added. I didn't know why she had to say that there was a fire. I had already assumed that part and I probably would have been able to figure it out.
"34 civilians and 6 of my fellow firemen died." The chief stated. "So do you need anything else Ms. Lance, other than reminding me of all the friends that I've lost and buried?"
Dinah walked away and I followed. It was weird that she did it because I hadn't asked her to do that.
"What was that about?" I asked.
"It was nothing Olivia. I have to go now." She told me before she left.
When I got back to the club, I couldn't help but notice that Courtney was there and she looked very angry.
"Did you go and do something without me?" She asked.
"Why are you asking me this if you already know the answer?" I replied.
"I thought that I was your partner. How could you do that?" She responded.
"Maybe it's because I don't want you to get hurt again. Maybe it's because I care about you too much for something worse to happen to you." I declared.
"You don't get to decide whether or not I get to be a hero." She argued.
"You could have died Courtney." I told her.
"I know that. I know that every time that I put on my mask, I could be killed, but do you know why I do it anyway?" She questioned.
"Why?" I asked. I knew that I wouldn't be able to stop her, but I decided that I would at least listen to what she had to say.
"For the same reason that you do." She replied. "I want to save this city just as much as you do. And I'm going to do it even if you don't want me to do and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
At that moment, I did something that I didn't expect to do, I wasn't even sure if I knew that I was doing it. I grabbed her face and kissed her. She ended up kissing me back before I realized what I was doing and pulled away.
"I'm sorry." I told her.
"Olivia…" She replied. It seemed like I may have done something that I thought was impossible. I managed to get her to stop talking for a second.
"I have some information, but I need you to help me." I declared. "Iris, let's get going."
I noticed that Iris was smiling as I took the two of them downstairs.
"Don't say anything." I warned her.
I couldn't help but feel a little guilty as I walked downstairs. I couldn't help but feel like I had betrayed Felicity. Yes, I knew that it had been several months since I had seen her and she thought that I was dead. I was also concerned that I might be able to go back some day. Part of wondered if Felicity would ever move on. I knew that Mia said that she didn't, but part of that was they lived in seclusion. In the new world I created, I was pretty sure that wouldn't happen. I supposed that I couldn't let myself get distracted with anything else. Just because I had kissed Courtney didn't mean that I had to do anything with her.
"So here's what I know." I explained as we reached the basement. I took a seat on top of my desk. "The first firefly to die was named Garfield Linz."
"Well wouldn't being dead make it hard for him to kill anyone?" Iris asked me.
"If there's one thing that I've learned is that people who are supposed to be dead aren't always dead." I declared. I had seen it dozens of times.
"Listen, I'm sorry for pushing you so hard." Iris replied. "I just know that you can't be afraid of losing."
"It's not that I'm afraid of losing. It's that I'm afraid of everyone else losing me. They already had one funeral for me and I don't want them to have another one." I told her. I wasn't sure how my powers worked, but it was possible that I could no longer die. I didn't know how I would feel about that. It sounded more like a curse than a blessing, but I didn't know if it was even true.
"Well all of those reasons you don't want to fight are actually the reasons that you should fight because you have something to fight for." Iris opined.
"As I was saying, all of the men in the unit had an alibi for Danny's murder." I explained. "On top of that, they weren't able to properly identify a body for Garfield Linz. We have a motive and a suspect. Now we need to get changed because we have a party to throw."
I put on a dress with a sky blue bodice and pink skirt. I looked at the walls of the club. They were brightly colored to set the right atmosphere. I was proud of how everything looked. It sucked that I would have to do a lot of from scratch. I also thought of it as a learning experience. I had to make sure that everything was up to code and I wouldn't have any tragedies happen at my club.
It looked like the benefit was a huge success. I even grabbed a bit to drink. It wouldn't make me drunk. I had already discovered that. I had Iris pick me up a six pack of beer and I drank the whole thing without feeling anything. Well I did feel an immense need to go to the bathroom, but other than that nothing.
"So I think if we get any more people in here, we might be ironically breaking the fire code." I joked to Courtney. She didn't laugh. In fact, I noticed her frowning. "Hey, are you okay?"
"I really think we need to talk about what happened." She told me.
"Can we just not do this tonight?" I requested. "I just want us to have a good time. Besides, I need to go talk to the chief right now."
I took Courtney over to her with me.
"Chief Raines. This is my friend, Courtney Whitmore." I introduced.
"Ms. Queen, this is spectacular. I never would have expected this from someone who can't even drive. The Fireman's Relief Association thanks you." He said.
"I'm old enough to drive. I just don't have a license." I pointed out. "So I read about the Nodell Tower fire. You recovered Garfield Linz's coat, but not his body."
"Do you always interrogate your guests, Ms. Queen?" He asked nervously.
"There's more to this story isn't there?" Courtney inquired.
"I've been in this business for a long time but I've never seen a fire like that before." He admitted. "I told my men to get out of there but Linz, he wouldn't go. I left him to burn, but I can't bring him back,"
"You don't have to because he is back." I argued. "Who else could be targeting the unit?"
"You're crazy. There's no way that Gar could have gotten out of there alive." He retorted.
"Just like you won't get out of here alive." Linz interrupted. He then started to throw firebombs. If I hadn't already knew that this was going to happen, I would have been very upset. I was still very upset.
People quickly started to evacuate. The chief seemed to be frozen in fear. This situation was going to be very delicate. I would have to find a window of opportunity to get downstairs, while also making sure that the chief managed to stay alive.
"Gar, what the hell are you doing?" The chief asked.
"Get out of here." Linz told me and Courtney. The two of us ran downstairs and started to get changed. I was a little bit nervous about changing in front of Courtney, but I figured that she would be too busy getting changed herself to pay any attention to me. That was something that I figured out in gym.
We then rushed back upstairs. I noticed that Linz was attempting to throw a lighter at the chief. I only had one shot and I managed to hit it on of the air.
"Let's get you out of here." Courtney replied. She probably figured it was better for me to deal with the guy who could light people on fire. The two of them fled the scene. I drew my bow at Linz.
"It's over now." I stated.
"I'm not afraid to die." He pointed out.
"I know. You're afraid to live." I argued. "I can get you some help."
"There's nothing you can do to help me." He declared before he went and lit himself on fire. I didn't have a way to put out said fire, so I had no choice but to let him die.
The following morning, Thea and I were watching the news before school.
"Eyewitnesses put not one but two vigilantes at the scene and it's been believed that the two of number managed to save countless lives. These weren't the actions of vigilantes though. These were the actions of heroes." The anchor declared. I couldn't help but smile.
"What are you smiling about? Your new club just went up in smoke." She told me.
"No, I just have to delay the opening by a few weeks…or months, but I more grateful that everyone else made it out alive." I replied.
After school, I took Courtney to look at the wreckage. It would take some time to rebuild.
"So I guess you don't need to worry about hiring right now." She quipped.
"Yeah, you could say that." I agreed. "Courtney, about the kiss. I know both of us were feeling a lot of passion at the moment. I want to ask what you think. Do you think it would be a good idea for us to do anything?"
"Honestly, probably not." She admitted. "They always say that workplace romances never work out and I don't think we could afford a breakup when the city needs us."
"Yeah, they do." I agreed. I was glad that she didn't want to be together because it made it so I wouldn't have to break her heart. "So do you have a name by the way?"
"Yeah, I'm Stargirl." She explained. "So what are we going to do, Robyn?"
"Please don't call me that." I declared as I went and got her a broom. "Right now, we have logistics. Just because we're not opening for a while now doesn't mean that you're not going to help me open this place."
She rolled her eyes before we started to clean the place up.
So Olivia and Courtney finally had their first kiss, but it looks like they're not going to be getting together any time soon. On top of that Olivia has a bit of a hard time dealing with Malcolm not being kidnapped. Please don't forget to review.